Counterfeit Traitors

Inspired by the true story of The Ritchie Boys, Counterfeit Traitors is the story of Richard Scherer, an American soldier/Combat Engineer of German descent and a member of the Minnesota Army National Guard/34th Infantry Division. In 1939 Richard is facing a court martial for the attempted murder of a superior and is compelled by the Army's Intelligence Division, then known as the Military Intelligence Service or MIS, to become a double agent in Nazi occupied Europe in exchange for dropped charges and a clean record. He becomes involved with Elsa Hoffman, a beautiful Dutch-born member of the female Luftwaffe Auxiliary and an operative for the German Anti-Nazi resistance group known as the Red Orchestra. As their relationship grows it is put to the test by the pressures of war, and doubts of loyalty. Historical Inspiration: The Ritchie Boys consisted of approximately 15,200 servicemen who were trained for U.S. Army Intelligence during WWII at the secret Camp Ritchie training facility. Approximately 14%, or 2,200, of them were Jewish refugees born in Germany and Austria. Most of the men sent to Camp Ritchie for training were assigned there because of fluency in German, French, Italian, Polish, or other languages needed by the US Army during WWII. They had been drafted into or volunteered to join the United States Army and when their ability to speak the language of an enemy was discovered, they were sent to Camp Ritchie on secret orders. Some of the Jewish refugees who were part of this program had originally arrived in the US as children, many without their parents, and were also among the One Thousand Children. Volksdeutsche: According to The German Order of Battle by George Nafziger, the Waffen SS had five German Americans among their ranks. These five people were classified as “US Volksdeutsche” which means that they were of German descent. They are listed only as a footnote in the book among other data regarding the nationality of Waffen SS personnel. Among the programs to encourage ethnic Germans was the Rueckwanderer. This program encouraged people to go to their German consulate and swear allegiance to Germany. The German American Bund was an ally to the Nazi party in the US and may have been used to recruit German Americans.